The Forming of S.M.I.L.E.

After several weeks of tried and true efforts, the S.M.I.L.E. headquarters was finally completed. On the day of the projects completion, Fury invited the princesses for a tour of the new facility.

"So, what do you think, your highnesses?" chuckled Fury as he showed them around the facility. "Pretty swanky, isn't it? I can assure you that the ponies and humans who work here are more than qualified for the defense of your kingdom."

"But, will it be enough to provide protection?" asked Celestia. "That is the question all four of us want to have answered."

"I can assure you that we will do everything we can," reassured Fury. "However, this takes much more than a magic wand or a twitch of the nose. You ever seen Bewitched?"

This caused the four princesses to look confusingly among each other.

"I take that as a no. Then again, television isn't your thing. But, I am sure you will get an understanding with what I am trying to show you."

Fury led the princesses into a newly built command center with a large screen hanging from the center wall. At the screen's ground level were a series of computers all lined up in rows of five.

"This will be the heart of our operations," he said. "Our Command Center, where 50 of our top agents will monitor all activities throughout Equestria."

Pressing a button, Fury turned the screen on and showed the princesses a map of all the locations around Equestria.

"As you can see," he said. "Each city is shown to be at code green, which means that everything is normal and all threats are low. We've modeled the color code after the Terror Alert level our country imposed after 9/11."

"So, if it's green," remarked Luna. "Then, everything is all right, we have nothing to fear?"

"Correct," continued Fury, pressing another button and the color then moved up to blue. "And if we move the color to blue, that means guarded and a general risk for an attack of some sorts is out there."

Then, Fury pressed another button and the color code was moved up several more times.

"If the color code is yellow, that means that there will be a significant risk of an attack. If we then move up to orange, the risk is high but if the color code goes up to red…that's the time to panic as the risk is severe."

"Which is what we hope will never happen," shuddered Cadence, thinking about her husband and young daughter back in the Crystal Empire. "Do you think that it will work?"

"Everything in this facility is state of the art filled with dedicated agents to protecting our respective homelands. Now, there is someone that I would like you four to meet courtesy of Mr. Tony Stark himself."

Pressing another button, the map disappeared from the screen and in its place with a white colored human figure who merely just stood down at the group from the screen.

"Ladies, I'd like you to meet HOMER, our resident Artificial Intelligence. He will be the sort of resident expert."

"Um, nice to meet you," said Twilight, meekly walking up to the screen. "um, HOMER."

"It's an honor to meet you too, Princess Friendship," answered HOMER, much to Twilight's embarrassment. "And it's an honor to meet you as well, Princess Sun, Princess Moon and Princess Love."

"Okay, I don't know if that is meant to be a compliment of sorts," said Luna, confusingly to Fury. "But, those aren't our names."

"Yo, Homey!" cried Fury, quickly getting the AI's attention. "Princess Sun is named Princess Celestia, Princess Moon is named Princess Luna, Princess Love is named Cadence and Princess Friendship is named Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Sorry, Mr. Fury," HOMER answered. "But, surely Mr. Stark told you that is how I somewhat function. However, at your request, I will try and remember the names of these four legged creatures."

"They are Princesses, HOMER, not just any four-legged creatures. In fact, why don't you think of them as like the good leaders out there?"

"I can sense that we are going to have a good relationship with them, Mr. Fury. Let me assure you, Princess Sun, that I am more than willing to be at your service to you and the others."

"Princess Celestia, HOMER!" reminded Fury loudly.

"As you say, Mr. Fury," the AI dully replied as he disappeared.

…

At that moment, a slender human female with short blonde hair and dressed in a red pantsuit stepped into the command center, walking over towards Fury and the four alicorns with the sounds of her high heels clacking on the hard floor.

"Ah, Agent Romanoff," chuckled Fury. "Perfect timing for you to show up. I'd like to introduce you to the fab four of this land. Ladies, this is Natasha Romanoff, one of our top agents who has been transferred here from S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Very nice to meet you," Romanoff chuckled as she handed Fury a pair of papers. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but these are two of the applications that I think you should look at, sir."

"What about them, Nat?"

"Apparently, two ponies sent them in. One of them was an agent for a top secret monster agency a few years ago."

At that moment, Celestia began to remember just exactly what was being talked about this particular pony.

"Sister, what is it?" asked Luna, taking note of her sister's blank stare. "What's wrong?"

"Luna," Celestia whispered. "Do you remember that bugbear that escaped from Tartarus around the same time as Tirek?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I had to shut down the agency and demand deniability as a result. By doing so, I had put so many ponies out of work."

"Yes, well I think it would be best of these two ponies to be one of the first ones interviewed," remarked Fury, looking over the applications before handing them back to Romanoff. "Send a message telling them that they can come in first thing tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir."

All Celestia could do was continue to think of the move she made to shut down the agency that cost Bon-Bon her job. When all was said and done, Celestia had to make amends with one of her best agents.

…

Later that day, Lyra and Bon-Bon received the news that they had been waiting for.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be interviewed," said Bon-Bon, looking at her message. "Hoping for the best, Lyra?"

"Yeah Bon-Bon," answered Lyra, who suddenly noticed the uncomfortable look in her friends' eyes. "You okay or something?"

"Um, yeah! Yeah," she stammered, suddenly taking her mind off of her dilemma. "I'm looking for this opportunity. It's just that…"

"What?"

"That this would be my first job since the agency was dissolved. I'm actually really hoping that I can get this job, Lyra. Spying is my passion just like your passion with humans and you know that my life's been up and down lately."

"We're going to get this job, Bon-Bon. Your pep talk a few weeks ago about my fascination with humans made me understand what I need to do. I've got faith in you just as you have faith in me."

Soon, the day would come for the two mares to be interviewed for positions within the newly minted organization…